- What it is The hot spring town at the north end of the Lanyang Plain, in Jiaoxi Township (礁溪鄉).
- Getting there TRA train to Jiaoxi Station, or bus from Taipei through the Hsuehshan Tunnel. Most of the town is a walk from either.
- From Taipei About 55 to 65 minutes by Kamalan Bus 1915 from Taipei Bus Station with no traffic, or Capital Bus 1572 from Taipei City Hall Bus Station, every 10 to 20 minutes. → Buses from Taipei
If you're coming out from Taipei for a soak, Jiaoxi (礁溪) is the answer. It's the closest of Yilan's towns, it's flat and walkable, and the one thing to do is simple: put your feet in a free foot bath, then book a proper soak. That's what we tell friends making their first trip out. Most Taiwanese hot springs are up in the mountains, but this is one of Taiwan's rare plains hot springs, coming up under the town itself. The water is a clear, odourless sodium bicarbonate spring, around 58°C where it surfaces, and it leaves your skin smooth rather than sticky. Locals call it a "beauty spring" (美人湯).
People have bathed here for a long time. Early settlers walled off pools to bathe in, the Japanese era brought public baths and inns, and today close to a hundred hotels, inns and bathhouses sit within about 1.2 km of the station. → Where to stay
This page is the town. For how to choose a bath, the etiquette and what to bring → Hot and cold springs
Tangweigou Hot Spring Park (湯圍溝溫泉公園)
Tangweigou is the old heart of the springs, and the best first stop if you only have an afternoon. It used to be known as the "hot water ditch" (燒水溝) because the spring water gathers here in a steaming stream, and it's the hottest point of the hot spring district. Today it's a small park with a footbridge, pavilions and cypress-wood buildings.
- Foot baths: half-open-air and free. The pool is refilled every 15 minutes, and the fresh water comes in at around 50°C, so take your feet out while it fills.
- Tangwei Furo (湯圍風呂): the paid public bath, in cypress wood, with separate baths for men and women. Shower before you get in. Whether you bathe nude or in a swimsuit isn't clear: the official pages don't say, reports differ, and we haven't been in ourselves. Ask at the counter before you go in, or call the park on 03-9874882, and pack a swimsuit just in case. NT$80, NT$60 concessions, NT$40 for over-65s. Children under 90 cm are not allowed in. Open 08:00 to 12:20 and 13:00 to 21:30. It doesn't say whether it sells towels, so bring your own.
- Fish spa: small fish that nibble your feet, a favourite with children.
- The old community bath (公共澡堂): a different place from Tangwei Furo. The park also has a free public bath in a listed historic building, run for the township by the local hot spring association. It was built with one pool for men and one for women, but so few women came that it has turned into a men-only bath, with a sign at the door turning women away. PTS reported this on October 14, 2026, and the township said it would look at ways to open it to everyone. For a cheap soak as a woman, go to Tangwei Furo or the Forest Bath instead.
Good to know: the bathhouse closed in 2025 for roof and pipe repairs and reopened on 24 October 2025, so it's back to normal.
Getting there: walk from Jiaoxi Station. It's in the town centre at No. 99-11, Deyang Road (德陽路), between Deyang Road and Ren'ai Road.
Jiaoxi Hot Spring Park and the Forest Bath (礁溪溫泉公園, 森林風呂)
The Jiaoxi Hot Spring Park is a wooded hill in the middle of town. It was a park in the Japanese era, and it still has trees more than a hundred years old and the remains of the Japanese public bath. The park itself is free and open all day, with paths, free foot baths and the Jiaoxi visitor center.
Come for the Forest Bath, a Japanese-style open-air public bath among the trees, separate for men and women, with room for about 200 people. It's a nude bath, and if you're comfortable with that, it's the soak we'd pick in town. Open 08:00 to 24:00. The entry price isn't published, so bring some cash. → More on public baths
Getting there: about 500 m from Jiaoxi Station. From the Jiaoxi Transfer Station, follow the covered Travelers' Corridor (旅人廊道) toward the park. It's lined with rabbit sculptures from Jimmy Liao's picture book 毛毛兔, and the signs point the way.
The free foot baths
You don't need to pay to try the water. There are several half-open-air foot baths around the town centre, all free:
- Station square (礁溪站前廣場): right outside Jiaoxi Station, the first thing you see when you arrive.
- Jiaoxi Hot Spring Square (礁溪溫泉廣場): at Jiaoxi Road Section 5 and Wenquan Road, with four timber pavilions over the foot pools. It is also the main stage for the winter lantern festival. Open all day.
- Hot Spring Landscape Plaza (礁溪溫泉地景廣場): at Jiaoxi Road Section 5 and Zhongshan Road Section 2, the "front door" of the hot spring district, with a sandstone landmark tower and four pavilion foot baths. The water is kept at 35 to 40°C. Open all day.
- Tangweigou and the Hot Spring Park, above.
Wash your feet first, keep to about 15 minutes, and stay out if you have a cut on your feet.
To walk between them, follow the paths along both banks of the Tangwei River (湯圍溪). They link Tangweigou, the shopping streets and the restaurants, and they're lit at night.
Xietian Temple (協天廟)
Xietian Temple is a Guan Yu temple founded in 1804, built by order of the Qing court and counted as the most important temple to Guan Yu in northern Taiwan. It's worth the short walk from the baths. Its spring festival is known for the "begging for turtles" (乞龜) offerings. Open daily 04:00 to 22:00, free, at No. 51, Zhongshan Road Section 1, in the town centre.
Wufengqi Waterfall (五峰旗瀑布)
In the hills west of town, Wufengqi is a three-tier waterfall about 100 m high, below five sharp peaks that gave it its name ("five-peak flags"). It's the easy add-on to a Jiaoxi day. The lowest tier is easy to reach, and many visitors paddle in its pool. The trail reopened in early February 2026 after repairs, and it can close again after typhoons, so check before you go. → Waterfalls and hikes
Getting there: about 3 km from Jiaoxi Station. Take the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle Jiaoxi A line (not the B line) to the Wufengqi Scenic Area stop, about 700 m from the entrance.
Getting around Jiaoxi
The centre is walkable. For the outskirts, the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle runs two Jiaoxi lines from the Jiaoxi Transfer Station and Jiaoxi Station, NT$20 a ride, paid in cash or by EasyCard or iPASS:
- A line past the Hot Spring Park and Tangweigou, out to Wufengqi, the Linmei Shipan Trail (林美石磐步道) and Fo Guang University. About 30 minutes end to end.
- B line the same start, but straight past the Wufengqi turn to the Linmei trail and Tamkang University's Lanyang campus. About 20 minutes.
The Northeast Coast line of the same shuttle runs from the Jiaoxi Transfer Station to Toucheng, Wushi Harbor and Wai'ao. → Local buses · Toucheng
→ Yilan's other areas · Where to eat in Jiaoxi · A day trip from Taipei · Two days, with a night in Jiaoxi
Sources: PTS on the Tangweigou community bath, October 14, 2026; Liberty Times on the Wufengqi reopening, February 3, 2026; Taiwan Tourism Administration, Jiaoxi Hot Springs; Jiaoxi Township tourism site: Tangweigou, Jiaoxi Hot Spring Park, foot baths, Hot Spring Square, Landscape Plaza, Travelers' Corridor, Xietian Temple, Wufengqi Waterfall and getting there; Yilan County tourism (宜蘭勁好玩): Tangweigou, Hot Spring Park, Landscape Plaza; Taiwan Tourism Administration, Wufengqi; Taiwan Tourist Shuttle Jiaoxi A line and B line. Checked November 2026.